The Global Network of Innovation Districts announces a new learning program:
Activities to support additional districts worldwide
A new program for district leaders to accelerate their districts’ development
Introduction
In March 2022, The Global Institute on Innovation Districts (The Global Institute) officially launched the Global Network of Innovation Districts (Global Network) with a first group of 23 innovation districts. The Global Network program has effectively accelerated the growth of these districts—both individually and collectively—through first-of-its-kind empirical analysis and peer learning, as well as by providing technical support to implement new strategies and initiatives in districts and their communities.
Building off of the success of this cutting-edge network, and with growing demand for expert support, as well as peer-to-peer exchange, we are pleased to announce that The Global Institute will expand the Global Network. Leveraging the work completed with the 23 districts in 2022, the Global Network will welcome a second group of innovation districts to participate in a new learning program, which will include tailored strategic support, the facilitation of new connections between districts, and access to new insights and intel uncovered by The Global Institute.
The current list of participating districts is:
- 16 Tech Innovation District, Indianapolis, IN (USA)
- 195 District, Providence, RI (USA)
- BioDistrict New Orleans, New Orleans, LA (USA)
- Brampton Innovation District, Brampton, ON (Canada)
- Children’s National Research & Innovation Campus, Washington D.C. (USA)
- Distrito de Ciencia, Tecnología e Innovación (DCTI), Bogotá (Colombia)*
- Distrito de Innovación de Ñuble, Chillán (Chile)
- Gold Coast Health and Knowledge Precinct, Gold Coast (Australia)
- Haifa Innovation District, Haifa (Israel)
- Keystone Innovation District, Kansas City, MO (USA)
- Lot Fourteen, Adelaide (Australia)
- Lund Innovation District, Lund (Sweden)
- Malmö Startup District, Malmö (Sweden)
- MedTech Innovation Quarter (New Zealand)*
- Nagaoka City Innovation District, Nagaoka (Japan)
- Norfolk Innovation Corridor, Norfolk, VA (USA)
- Oklahoma City Innovation District, Oklahoma City, OK (USA)
- Randwick Health & Innovation Precinct, Randwick (Australia)
- The Linq, Mansfield, TX (USA)
- UNSW Launch, Canberra (Australia)
- Utah Tech Innovation District, St. George, UT (USA)
- Innovation District in California, USA (Official name to be announced at a later date)
*Districts in agreement stage.
These new districts will be expanding our existing Global Network of 23 innovation districts.
Key benefits
Participating district leaders will benefit from a flexible, 12-month online learning program. Depending on individual district support needs, districts can choose different levels of the following benefits:
Focused one-on-one strategic support to discuss their district’s top priorities and to create specific strategies for advancing their district. They will gain a stronger understanding of their district’s organizational structure and how it can be strengthened, allowing them to ‘organize for success’.
Connections with other districts. There will be large peer sessions to learn from innovative practice and to gain insights from a comprehensive set of strategies that are essential for district advancement. Additionally, smaller peer groups will focus on advancing specific priorities in a deeper way.
Essential resources to help guide innovation district leaders in their decision-making process. These include detailed strategies and insights from The Global Institute, as well as examples of innovative practice by leading district practitioners in the field.
Increased visibility and recognition of the district as participant of the first of its kind global community of experts. Districts will be able to feature the GIID Global Network logo on their website and their partipations will be recognized through a range of materials.
Program overview
The new learning program will cover the most critical topics in innovation district development, including but not limited to:
- Overview of the innovation district model: Comprehensive set of strategies essential to advance districts, along with a deeper focus on how districts are organizing for success;
- Governance and defining an innovation district’s boundary: Organized leadership to make collective decisions on how to grow, including how to define a district’s boundary. Some of the common concerns pertaining to boundary size and inclusion of specific assets will be discussed;
- Governance and finance: Creating the mix of public, private, philanthropic, and other finance streams needed to advance your district;
- Unique specializations: Leveraging the unique R&D strengths of innovation districts to advance their competitiveness and draw new investment;
- Unique specializations and industry attraction: Developing an informed, proactive attraction strategy which capitalizes on your district’s unique competitive advantages; and
- Quality of place: Harnessing place as a powerful way to connect diversities of people, organizations and activities, and attract industry and investment.
“When we first developed the boundaries of our district, the geography was large because people felt strongly about not getting cut out of the boundaries. But through the work of GIID, we strategically refined our boundary to have it include all core R&D actors.
GIID also advised that we include the harbor as a living lab because a lot of our research activities in ocean tech and ocean sciences takes place in the water, making it a key asset.”
– Wendy Luther, President and CEO, Halifax Partnership, Nova Scotia
Call for Applications for the Global Network of Innovation Districts
The program is open to innovation district leaders from around the world. To learn more, please fill out the form below and get in touch with our team.
